April 3, 2012

It's the Wisconsin primary today, and we're following the old family tradition of talking on the walk over and making the final decision at that point. I say it's an old family tradition because in 1976, I set out to walk over to the polls with my then-husband RLC, and we actually had to sit down at one point and talk it through. We were still for Jimmy Carter when we sat down, but by the time we got up to continue the walk to the poll, we were for Gerald Ford. We'd both voted for McGovern in 1972, and I would continue to vote for all Democratic presidential candidates — with the sole exception being 2004 — to this day (including voting for Carter in 1980, when he lost).

I like not deciding until I mark the ballot. I enjoy the free and flexible — flowing — mental state. As long as I have to pay attention to all the politics, every day.

So I say the quote that is the post title out loud, and the dialogue continues, with many lines, most of which I've forgotten, but one of which is "Time for you to do the traditional thing of voting for whoever I tell you to vote for."

Who will Althouse vote for?

Gingrich, because she's a contrarian.

Paul, because he's so cute and constitutional.

Romney, because he and his boyfriend Paul Ryan are dreamboats.

Santorum, because that's who Meade, the winger, will tell her to vote for.

She certainly doesn't like Santorum (I don't see Meade voting for him, either, and I'd love to be a fly on the wall if he ever tried to tell his lady fair for whom to vote) and Captain Tin Foil is too far out.

Do not underestimate the power of dreamboat-ness in an election- here in Massachusetts any minor male member of the Kennedy clan gets in line at Starbucks and panties fly off any woman over 35 who's ever written a check to Emily's List...

Turn out was quite light in my neck of the woods. I got to the polling place around 9 a.m. and I was only number 20 for my precinct.

They've moved the polling places around because of the recent redistricting so I think lots of people might have difficulty finding where to vote. The Voter Public Access website was close to useless earlier; luckily I found the letter sent by the City Clerk in February with the new polling location.

(Wow, wouldn't that be cool -- Gringrich the Contrarian, who trod the jeweled thrones of the earth beneath his sandaled feet until, at last, he found his own kingdom, and wore his crown upon a troubled brow)

Tell us all the reasons Romney is bad. Carp from the rooftops! Don't mention any alternatives, though. Don't suggest any improvement. Just bitch to high heaven. Give us a further window into your soul.

2020: President Romney widely understood by Republicans as having been the greatest president of the modern era, topping even Reagan for having defended and advanced conservative principles of federalism, free markets, and freedom for individuals.

Please mark it.12/11/11 9:10 AM

So marked at a time when it was looking pretty lonely for us Romney supporters.

Are you people who taunt Althouse because of her past votes proud that knowledge of her votes for president since at least 1976 are stored in your cranium? Bear in mind that she knows nothing about you.

Purple Peng said: "Crossing over" in a primary election isn't unethical if you would also vote for that person in the general election, no?

I don't even think that they're immoral if you're not planning that. If my primary in 2008 had been later (when McCain had locked up the R nom but the Ds were still fighting), I would have voted for Clinton in a heartbeat. Not because I like Clinton or ever could have voted for her in the general, but because I found her far preferable to Obama, and, if it came down to one of them having to win the presidency, I would have greatly prefered that it be her.

I stand by that - Clinton would have been terrible, but not nearly as terrible as Obama.

I don't either. He impresses me as someone who would attempt to use the federal government to enforce his moral values which is no better than the Democrats attempting to use the federal government to enforce theirs.

He strikes me more as a conservative Democrat who can't align with the Democratic Party because of their stance on abortion and contraceptives. His view of the role of the federal government is more in line with the Democrats than the more federalist approach of the Republicans.

Santorum would be quite comfortable with a strong federal government issuing all sorts of mandates on the states. He also doesn't believe the people have a right of privacy from the federal government and has said there is basically no limit to federal power over the individual.

So roesch/voltaire "proudly" voted for Santorum today. I wonder how many other Democrats did the same.

But "proudly", R/V, really? I can imagine ways one might rationalize such a vote-- i.e. a vote intended solely to sabotage the other party. A vote for a candidate you yourself would consider the worst, if elected. I myself would never do such a thing and consider voting like that a vile thing to do (whether it's done by Democrats or Republicans: I despised Rush's operation chaos, just as I despised Kos & Michael Moore getting out the Dem vote for Santorum).

Even rationalized in a calculation of partisan advantage, the fact remains-- it's a vote cast out of malice. It's a cynical vote. I can imagine someone (not me) feeling some political satisfaction by voting that way. Feeling gleeful or smug, for doing something supposedly clever and sneaky, taking advantage of an open primary to hurt your political opponents.